recently, while tumblr-ing, i found a project that seemed interesting and easy enough to start and actually finish. over any given course of time i am to write a series of thirty letters, each to different people. some of the recipients are very specific (ie sibling, girlfriend, parent, friend, etc.) and some a little more abstract (dreams, memory, reflection). it should prove to be, at the very least, a fitting exercise to the heavy loads of writing that are sure to await me at CSULB. with that brief introduction, allow me to begin.

letter #1 - your best friend

dear matt,

we both know that this letter could go to any one of a few people, but i’ve chosen you. our friendship is something that i value more than most things in my life. you’re my best friend, my confidant, my right-hand man. the more and more we get older the more i begin to realize that “we” may not be the same “we” it’s been for all this time.

you see, a about a year ago i started dating this girl and the more i get to know her the more i think that this may be the one God has for me. you’re probably laughing right now because you think you’ve won some special prize for calling it. you’re dumb. anyway, whether she is or some other girl is the fact remains that our time as best friends is coming to an end. it won’t be just matt and drew anymore. it’ll be matt and what’s-her-face that will be besties and andrew and that-girl-who-you-approve-of will be off doing their thing.

i kind of equate it to when cory and topanga get married in boy meets world. did you see that? well, in case you haven’t let me explain it to you. cory and shaun have been best friends since forever and when cory and his girlfriend, topanga, decide they’re going to get married shaun is super excited. then the realization that he’s not going to be cory’s best friend anymore sets in and he freaks out. it was always them+topanga, but when you enter into marriage things change. your best friend is your spouse. 

i’m not saying we won’t be friends anymore or our level of sharing will change, but something will. it’ll be different and different is scary. we’ve been friends for so long and it’s always been this weird/awesome relationship of give and take. it’s already started to change, and i know you’ve seen it too. we’re growing up. 

you’re my best friend. we talk about the stupidest stuff in the world and stay up late and play video games all night. we push ourselves physically…at korean bbq. a lot of the challenging stuff we do is preempted with a “i’ll do it if you do it”. we’re awesome like that. there was always safety in knowing that we’d have each other’s backs wherever it is we went. if you were there i knew i couldn’t fail…completely, as gay as that sounds. but we’re reaching a point in our lives where our #1 won’t be each other for very much longer. 

you’ll have someone and i’ll have someone and then we’ll be bumped into new equally weird/awesome scenarios, being #2. a very different place in the hierarchy of priorities, but not a bad place. we’ve been through worse, right? 

until, God has us face the huge responsibility of marriage, not to each other btw, then we’ll soak up as much of freedom as we can. 

besties forever,

andrew